Patagonia: Sustainable Fashion and Innovative Performance

Patagonia: Sustainable Fashion and Innovative Performance

We know Patagonia as a leader in high-performance outdoor clothing and gear. It was also a leader in social responsibility, with a particular focus on the environment, long before it became the popular thing to do. Patagonia’s commitment is reflected in innovations such as:

Products that require less energy to produce, maximize recycled inputs and are tracked to understand their environmental impact.

Conducting audits on suppliers, and screening for environmental impact down to the farm level to ensure that animals involved in the supply chain receive humane treatment.

Campaigns like DON’T BUY THIS JACKET asking consumers to repair and reuse the Patagonia clothes they already have as opposed to buying new ones.

Closing its sustainability office and dispersing those employees so sustainable practices were incorporated into every step of the production process.

Continuing this mission into the future requires leaders like Matt Dwyer, Vice President of Product Innovation & Impact. His job is to lead innovation strategy to commercialize low-impact materials and build sustainable supply chains. According to Matt, “We put the carbon emissions or water savings of fabric content at the same level as margin or net income that we’re going to generate because we value it.” (LA Times Dec. 2018)

Join us on Wednesday, October 13th at 4:00 pm to hear Matt discuss how he executes Patagonia’s promise to “build the best products, cause no unnecessary harm, and use business to inspire solutions to the environmental crisis.”

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Speaker Bio:

Matt Dwyer is the VP of Product Impact & Innovation at Patagonia, an outdoor apparel company with a mission statement of “We’re in business to save our home planet.” Matt works at the intersection of technology, business, and advocacy, and he leads the company’s efforts to address the root causes of the social and environmental effects of running a business – its carbon, waste, water, and chemistry footprint from its supply chain. Matt has a background in materials science and engineering from Lehigh University and previously led technology development at W.L. Gore & Associates.

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The Innovation Leaders Speaker Series creates a community of learning around innovation management best practices and entrepreneurial thinking. The series is hosted by the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute at the Fox School of Business at Temple University, along with partner organizations the Product Development and Management Association, Innovation Research Interchange, and Technical.ly Philly.